Iraq

So much for our promise to liberate Iraq, not to occupy it, and not to cart off its riches.

Speaking at the Veterans of Foreign Wars and its Ladies Auxiliary annual convention in Vancouver Thursday, The Columbian's Kathie Durbin reports that Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi called out Gov. Chris Gregoire for never having traveled to Iraq or Afghanistan as a sitting governor. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Rossi, offering brief remarks at the VFW convention, noted that Gregoire has not traveled to "see our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan." As governor, if offered the chance to visit the troops deployed abroad, "I will go," he said.

Alas, Gregoire's campaign shot back.

George Fearing grew up the son of a preacher, and while his father's ministries took him all over the country, he always felt a connection to Eastern Washington. He spent much of his childhood in the region, went to college in Walla Walla, and returned to the Tri-Cities upon completion of his law degree in 1982. He has stayed there ever since.  read more »

In today's Seattle Times Representative Jim McDermott responded to the case revolving around his 2002 trip to Iraq, which Federal prosecutors recently alleged was organized by the Iraqi government through a man named Muthanna Al-Hanooti.

A new AP article reports that a 2002 trip to Iraq made by three U.S. Congressmen may have been paid for in secret by Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency. The lawmakers said to have made the trip are Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Seattle), David Bonior (D-Mich.) and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), though it is reported that they were unaware of the funding source.

In today's Seattle Times, Darcy Burner writes an op-ed piece criticizing America's policy on Iraq. Particularly Burner cites the wasted money and loss of life involved with the ongoing war, and the lack of political action taken so far to end the war, which she calls a "quagmire" that makes our military "weaker by the day".  read more »

Rep. Jim McDermott wrote an op-ed in the Huffington Post today to mark the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War by considering what might have happened had the US not  been involved.  read more »